‘A New Way of Seeing’: Engagement With Women’s and Gender Studies Fosters Engineering Identity Formation
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Abstract
- Despite widespread appreciation of the importance of diverse participation in engineering,
persistent biases and systemic disadvantages continue to impede the flourishing of students with
historically excluded identities. We investigate the influence of a STEM-themed Women’s and
Gender Studies course on the identity formation and sense of belonging of a group of
engineering students. Through survey responses and focus group discussions, this study
qualitatively investigates how STEM-themed coursework in WGS may influence the attitudes,
perspectives, and identity formation of marginalized engineering students. In our interviews,
students reported finding WGS coursework to be empowering, liberatory, and strengthening of
their STEM confidence and preparedness. Providing students with the critical frameworks,
interdisciplinary methods, and conceptual vocabulary associated with WGS can positively
influence students' engineering identity formation and support underrepresented students’ sense
of belonging in engineering. Understanding personal challenges as systemic rather than
individual, and recognizing the social construction of engineering knowledge, were so valuable
that respondents recommended WGS coursework be required for all engineering students. Our
results suggest that the disciplines of gender studies and critical race theory may be powerful
avenues to advance the agency and thriving of diverse engineering students.
| Title | ‘A New Way of Seeing’: Engagement With Women’s and Gender Studies Fosters Engineering Identity Formation |
|---|---|
| Creator | Armstrong, Mary A. |
| Rossmann, Jenn Stroud | |
| Publisher | ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Proceedings |
| Academic Department | Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies |
| Mechanical Engineering | |
| English | |
| Division | Social Sciences |
| Engineering | |
| Humanities | |
| Organization | Lafayette College |
| Date Issued | 2021 |
| Date Available | 2021-08-16 |
| Type | Article |
| Language | English |
| Bibliographic Citation | Rossmann, J. S. and M. A. Armstrong (2021) "‘A New Way of Seeing’: Engagement With Women’s and Gender Studies Fosters Engineering Identity Formation." ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Proceedings. Paper 32377. |
| Standard Identifier | Handle 10385/m900nv84q |
| Permalink | http://hdl.handle.net/10385/m900nv84q |
| Rights Statement |
In Copyright
|
| Rights Holders | American Society for Engineering Education |
Contains
| File | Rossmann-ASEEAnnualConference-2021-32377.pdf | Uploaded 2021-08-16 | Public | Download |
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